GEMS for Grades K – 2
Philosophy
While clubs for early childhood students are fun and exciting, GEMS firmly believes that the most important factor in success in STEM comes from positive experiences in school and at home. Children need to see that STEM is all around them, in their lives as pervasive as oxygen.
Exploration and discovery build confidence in girls and engaging home and school STEM experiences can strengthen their curiosity and interest so that they see themselves as scientists and mathematicians without being able to label themselves such.
Pay attention to the messages you send as a parent or teacher about girls and their roles. Are they adventurous or cautious? Are they pretty or a “problem-solver?”
Research
PBS Parents: Raising a Powerful Girl
Nurturing STEM Skills in Young Learners, Pre-K-3— lessons learned from successful schools
Closing the Gender Gap A broadcast from CBS News about proactive learning in STEM
Attitudes of Young Girls Toward Intelligence from the New York Times–attitudes matter
Building Math and Spatial Skills –a deal breaker for some students
Family Resources
STEM Ed Anytime A sampling of great projects for all ages
Bridging the Gender Gap a good summary of what GEMS is working toward
Screen Time
Time on computers and tablets is a family and school decision. Commonsense Media has tips for making that important determination and understanding warning signs of too much screen time.
Educator Resources
Why STEM is important for grades K-2 –building on early curiosity
Picture STEM an NSF project integrating STEM and Literacy and the engineering design process
PNC’s Grow Up Great STEM Lessons and Toolkit –lessons and activities for home or early childhood classrooms
Simplifying STEM for young students — simplified activities for little ones
Computer Science and Early Childhood
Why Should K-5 Educators Teach Coding? from ISTE
CSUnplugged Teaching Computer Science without screens
Code.org Teaching children in K-2 to code
Web Resources
40 STEM Activities for kids — family and school activities
Children’s Engineering Design Briefs — Virginia’s Children’s Engineering Council is a rich resource for learning the design process
PBS Education — a wealth of information for teachers, parents and caregivers
NASA Education — free exciting resources for little scientists and astronauts
IExplore STEM — a site to plan science festivals, with many great ideas
Fun A Day Engineering — engineering for early childhood
PBS Design Squad — wide range of videos, challenges and resources for designing and building
